Shooting Nikons at 60 FPS Raw Format and Full Resolution
- Ed Dozier
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
People have been complaining since day one that Nikons can’t do Raw format stills at high frame rates in FX mode, but only jpeg instead. If you have a Z9, Z8, or Z6III, you’re in luck. I came up with a way that you can use 12-bit N-RAW format up to 8.3K resolution at 60 frames per second to capture those stills. If you’re willing to stick with 4.1K resolution, you can go all the way up to 120 frames per second shooting Raw format in FX mode!
This is true RAW format, at 8256 X 4644 resolution in FX mode. The secret to getting this capability is using the special lossless compression format and extracting the stills out of a video. You can achieve this feat by using a video editor called DaVinci Resolve, which understands this 12-bit N-RAW format.
Nikon NEF still-picture raw files are 14-bit, but in almost all conditions 12 bits are plenty.
You will now have the capability of getting higher quality photos with larger dynamic range than jpegs, and be able to use nearly all of the same shooting capabilities that Nikon provides when shooting stills.
You will still be able to focus using AF-C, AF-S, MF, and AF-F (full-time autofocus) modes. You still get subject detection options, such as ‘bird’, ‘people’, ‘airplane’, and ‘auto-detect’. All of these settings can be configured independently from your still-photography settings.
A frame from an N-RAW (NEV) video using 60 fps via Nikon Z8
I’d recommend that you leave the camera in M (manual mode) and set Auto-ISO active when capturing video. This way, you still get auto-exposure while being able to adjust the shutter and aperture to taste. High frame rates to capture high-speed action implies that you’ll want to have full control over the shutter speed while still being able to set the desired aperture.
Using this mode to capture frames makes pre-capture unnecessary, since you can capture as many images as you want, any time you want. Just be aware that this high-quality N-RAW 60p 8.3K video mode will fill up a 512GB CF-express B memory card in about 12 minutes. These “NEV” video files tend to be huge, and you may need to delete them later from your computer after extracting the still frames you want.
When you find the right situation where you want to do high-speed capture, you just flip the switch from stills to movie-mode, and press the red record button instead of the shutter button. The AF-ON button will work exactly like when you’re shooting stills. Just flip the switch back to ‘stills’ mode when you don’t need high-speed capture. Your camera keeps all of your ‘still photography’ settings entirely separate from the video settings. Simple.
Compared to shooting hundreds or thousands of still photos while hoping that you captured that peak-action shot, you can capture it inside a single video. If the desired shot didn’t get captured, you only have a single (video) file to delete instead of tediously deleting scores of single photos one-at-a-time.
Try manually timing a shot like this. Good luck.
Select the precise peak action frame out of the video
After you capture the desired action somewhere inside a video, you can process this file using the free DaVinci Resolve video editor, which has the ability to extract single frames as a high-quality 16-bit TIFF with LZW compression format from the original N-RAW video. You will need to get the “paid” version of DaVinci Resolve Studio to get the full 8K resolution from the video. You can still grab 4K-resolution shots with the free version (3840 X 2160).
Use the ‘Edit’ page to locate suitable frames
As shown above, you can use the mouse wheel to move frame-by-frame through the video to find the ‘just right’ shot. If you place the pointer inside the video frame, then the mouse wheel allows you to zoom in to verify critical focus.
DaVinci Resolve ‘Color’ page: grade the image
Adjusting the lighting, contrast, saturation, etc. inside DaVinci is an experience. This isn’t going to look like other editors you’re familiar with.
Capture the desired frame
In DaVinci Resolve, you can do pretty extensive edits in their Color Panel to take advantage of the wide dynamic range in the video, adjusting things such as shadows and highlights. After making the adjustments, you can then extract and export the desired frames in various image formats, including TIF. This is where you get to take advantage of the video raw-format wide dynamic range, even if you use the free version that only lets you save up to 4K resolution. For some weird reason, adjusting the light, colors, and contrast in video editors is called “grading”.
As an aside, you can capture more conventional video in formats such as MOV up to 120 fps and extract 4K jpeg photos in FX format using the free Nikon NX Studio. This program doesn’t know how to process N-RAW video, unfortunately. Only DaVinci Resolve is able to edit the .NEV files.
After exporting the photo from DaVinci Resolve, you can always import the shot into another editor to make further adjustments. I typically send the TIF exported photos to Topaz Photo AI to perform noise reduction and sharpening.
A note of caution about using the Capture One editor: imported TIF-format files can cause some unwanted dark/black borders to appear in highly-saturated and shiny surface colors, such as plastics. Other editors don’t exhibit this effect.
The overall N-RAW video image quality in most circumstances is as good as conventional Nikon raw (NEF). I’m going to blame my lack of finesse with color grading for any drop-off of quality. The main caveat is when using the exported TIF files inside Capture One, some saturated, smooth surfaces look unusual. Editors such as Lightroom, ON1, and Zoner don’t have this problem.
Frame capture inside DaVinci Resolve after ‘grading’
DaVinci Procedures
Project Manager | New Project, enter project name
Click Create
Double-click the new project to open it (lands on the ‘Edit’ page)
Project Settings:
Timeline format: pick an 8K near 8256X4644 60p
Timeline frame rate: try 60
Audio Sample Rate 48 kHz
In Color Management tab:
Set Color Science to DaVinci YRGB Color Managed (or ACES if preferred).
Under Output Color Space, choose a wide gamut like DaVinci Wide Gamut or Rec.2020.
Import Media: Edit, Media Pool (top left)
File |Import|Media (select .NEV files)
Create Timeline: Media Pool: Select All Clips, RMB→Create new timeline
Name Timeline: ‘Main Edit’
Use Project Settings (checked)
Empty TimeLine (unchecked) to auto-select clips
Click ‘Create’
Save Project: File | Save Project
When trying to find key frames to capture, you’ll probably want to click on the “Detail Zoom” in the Edit page to more easily analyze small time slices while moving along the timeline. You can also hover over the “Jog Wheel” icon, which looks like “< . >” with the pointer and then use the mouse wheel to enable frame-by-frame scrolling.
To zoom in on a frame to check for critical focus, move the mouse pointer inside the video frame and then scroll the mouse wheel.
Method: Grab Still → Export from Gallery (Best for Color-Graded Frames)
Position the playhead on your desired frame.
Switch to the Color page (recommended for accurate grading preview).
Right-click in the viewer (on the image) and select Grab Still (shortcut: Option + G on Mac or Alt + G on Windows).
This captures the frame and adds it to the Gallery (stills album) on the left side.
In the Gallery panel:
Right-click the new still thumbnail.
Choose Export (or Export with Display LUT if you want grading baked in).
In the export dialog:
Pick your format (JPEG, PNG, TIF, etc.).
Set location and name.
Export.
Alternative Method: Export Current Frame as Still (Available on Cut, Edit, or Color Pages)
Load your video clip into the timeline (or open it in the viewer).
Scrub the playhead to the exact frame you want to capture.
Go to the menu bar: File > Export > Current Frame as Still (or sometimes listed as Export Current Frame as Still).
In the save dialog:
Choose your save location and filename.
Select the format from the dropdown (e.g., JPEG for photos, PNG for transparency/lossless, TIFF for high quality).
Click Export or Save.
This exports the frame directly with your current color grading, LUTs, and viewer settings applied (great if you're on the Color page).
Notes
Exported frames match your timeline resolution (e.g. 4K video → 4K still) unless you change project settings.
For highest quality, use PNG or TIFF (lossless).
Summary
These techniques aren’t something you’d use every day. But when you’re trying to photograph something that’s fleeting and needs a little automation help, this can be just the ticket.
Nikon doesn’t advertise this possibility, but if you’re willing to put up with these complications, you can in fact shoot raw-format all the way up to 120fps for your “stills”.
I liked how the post explained the challenge of shooting Nikon cameras at very high speed like 60 fps while still keeping RAW format and full resolution, because it shows how much data the camera has to process in a split second. Modern cameras can capture very fast bursts thanks to improved sensors and processors that read data quickly from the sensor. Last semester when I was overwhelmed with data work, I ended up used online Statistics class help to understand patterns better. That experience reminded me how both photography and statistics rely on reading detail carefully.
It's a good approach, but bird photography or shooting at very high shutter speeds relies heavily on DXO's noise reduction. Unfortunately, extracted TIFF files cannot be processed with DXO. This is also a common issue when using adapted lenses on Fuji GFX cameras. Noise reduction in Lightroom or other software simply doesn't deliver the same results as DXO.